For Santa's Sack on the Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry Forum.
It's a Wednesday when Ariadne rings him, her voice pitched upwards with excitement, and tells him that she's managed to secure a job. And while she's worked plenty of jobs since the inception, she's never worked one without Cobb. She's looking for a friendly face, and she's turned to Arthur. Arthur agrees without a second thought. Then she tells him the dates, and he freezes. But when, noting the shift in his tone, Ariadne asks if everything's okay, Arthur responds that there's nothing to worry about.
He tells Eames one week later. He drops it into conversation easily—as if it's not a problem—over the sizzle of oil as he fries two eggs in the late morning.
"Arthur…" Eames says his name slowly, as if talking to a child. "That's over Christmas. We don't take jobs over Christmas."
Apparently, pretending that something isn't a problem isn't the same thing as that thing not actually being a problem. He slides the eggs onto a slice of brown bread and slides the plate over to Eames, all while wearing an apologetic smile. Eames' face doesn't even twitch in response as he picks up his knife and fork and begins (a little too forcefully, Arthur thinks) digging into the meal.
"I know. It's just that it's her first job with Dom—"
"Is he finally retiring?"
"—and I said yes before I asked her when it would be," Arthur finishes. "I'm sorry."
Eames's lips are in a tight line. Truthfully, Arthur can't blame him for being upset. Not working over the holiday season is one of the oldest promises they'd made to each other. It's probably the only promise neither of them have ever broken. All of a sudden, Arthur is overwhelmed by the crushing feeling that he's spoilt everything—the holidays, the year, the entire goddamn relationship.
"I can ring her back and say no," Arthur relents. "I'll ask Livingstone to replace me. He's good. Doesn't fuck around. And he owes me one. He'll be good to Ari—"
"Arthur."
Arthur trails off at the sudden interruption. Eames is looking at him with soft eyes, and that's all that's needed to make the tension in Arthur's shoulders fade away.
"I'm not happy about this," Eames says. "But I will be less unhappy about it if you get me a spot on the team too."
Arthur's mouth drops open, and Eames rolls his eyes.
"Come on, Arthur. It's Ariadne," Eames says. "We can't leave her to the likes of Livingstone. He's good, but he's not us. But then we're never working Christmas again, okay? Never."
Arthur beams. Maybe he hasn't ruined Christmas after all.